Warriors coach: Stop the dilly-dallying

THE chaotic episode of the vacant Warriors coach post has only proved one thing: Zifa’s lack of accountability to the football-loving public.

Sports Panorama with Enock Muchinjo

Appointment of the national coach of a country’s number one sport is a matter of greater national interest anywhere in the sporting world.

That Zifa has gone 10 months without naming a substantive coach clearly shows how the Phillip Chiyangwa administration continues to take the nation for granted —paying no attention to anybody and doing as they wish.

There is a long-standing tendency in this country for administrators to always want to hog the limelight at the expense of the players and the coaches — the real star-attraction of the game.

Certainly Chiyangwa and company have really got us — sports press corps in particular — eating out of their palms for the greater part of their tenure.

Resumption of 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers is just five months away.

With Zimbabwe out of the next World Cup qualification competition, what an appropriate opportunity it would have been for a full-time Warriors coach to be working on a programme beforehand to ensure a successful campaign for Cameroon 2019.
More worrying is the lack of direction on the part of Zifa.

What sort of coach are they looking for really?

They could be waiting, perhaps, for Norman Mapeza to stumble in his quest for the PSL title with FC Platinum, and then give him a soft landing with the Warriors?

Or Sunday Chidzambwa, whose future at ZPC Kariba has appeared uncertain beyond the current season following a dramatic fallout with club officials.

Perhaps it is a “high-profile” coach that Zifa is searching for.

If that were the case, how prepared is Zifa to get its house in order, get its systems working, in order to attract and work well with a coach of this kind of profile?

No disrespect to the coaches we have at home: most, though, appear only too grateful to get the Warriors post and thus allow themselves to be abused.

It just does not work that way with coaches who have been exposed to professional working environments elsewhere.

Quite interestingly, media reports this week suggested Zifa has lined up Warriors greats Peter Ndlovu and Bruce Grobbelaar, as well as two-time PSL title winner Joey Antipas for the vacant position.

In my book, Peter’s appointment would represent a huge coup for Zifa.

But at what price is the iconic former Zimbabwe captain and kingpin willing to sacrifice his stable job at Mamelodi Sundowns to coach his beloved country?

Your guess is as good as mine.

Ndlovu’s former international teammate, Grobbelaar, has also publicly revealed how he would love to return home to take charge of the Warriors. Again, there will be significant financial and professional obligations.